Grace & Favour

Grace & Favour (known in the United States as Are You Being Served? Again!) was a British sitcom, and the sequel series to the long-running programme Are You Being Served?

Plot

At the start of the series, Mr Rumbold had trouble trying to find new staff to fill the vacancies (he had yelled at the previous staff and given them an ultimatum that if they didn't like how he did business, they could leave; they left). With time running out, the old Grace Brothers employees had to have their picture taken as the inn staff for a travel brochure, and they started to run the inn themselves with the help of Farmer Moulterd and his daughter.

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Farmer Moulterd's daughter, Mavis, could barely conceal her crush on Mr Humphries, and although it was hidden at times, he was shown to reciprocate such feelings (they cried after they talked about their feelings whilst cutting onions). After that episode, however, Mr Humphries was shown to be rather ambiguous not to Mavis, but to the idea of a relationship with anyone. Since the two were sharing a bed (the nights were very cold, Mavis reasoned), all of the staff assumed they were having sex, which flattered Mr Humphries, but he eventually denied any such goings-on.

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On her first day in the country, Mrs Slocombe tried to move a gypsy's wagon that blocked the highway, and was arrested for wagon theft. The local newspaper also took a picture of the wagon flying by with Mrs Slocombe strewn about, adding to her embarrassment. At her trial, all of her colleagues were called as witnesses, but it was Farmer Moulterd who produced doubt and won the case for her. Mrs Slocombe was grateful, despite her constant irritation that he brought up their sexual relationship during the War, which she insisted never happened.

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Malcolm Heathcliff, a man who wanted to have a relationship with Mavis, was very jealous of Mr Humphries and threatened him with violence every chance he had. During a cricket match, Mr Humphries accidentally hit Malcolm on the head with a ball, which only followed with more threats later. In the end, however, he mainly wanted to scare Mr Humphries, which worked almost all of the time.

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In the second series, the staff put on a traditional harvest Thanksgiving dance for octogenarian American visitors, and put on a showcase of British arts and culture for a tour group from Mongolia. In the final episode, the inn booked a group of monks who had taken a silent oath, which was discarded after their bare feet hit the gravel outside.

Related Topics:
Thanksgiving - Octogenarian - American - Mongolia - Monks - Silent oath - Gravel

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